title: Robotic thumb grasp-based range of motion optimisation.
abstract: With the thumb serving an important role in the function of the human hand, improving robotic prosthetic thumb functionality will have a direct impact on the prosthesis itself. So far, no significant work exists that examines the ranges of motion a prosthetic thumb should exhibit; many myoelectric prostheses arbitrarily select them. We question this design practice as we expect a significant functional volume reduction for performing certain activities vs. the maximum obtainable workspace. To this end, we compare and contrast four anatomically-accurate thumb models. We quantify their angular ranges of motion by generating point clouds of end-effector positions, and by computing their alpha-shape bounded volumes. Examining the function of the thumb for several grasps, we identify a 76% reduction of the required workspace volume vis-a-vis the maximum volume of a "'generic'" human thumb.
authors.forename: Konstantinos
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dermitzakis
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ioannides
authors.forename: Hwai-ting
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D012371:Robotics / Q000379:methods*; D013933:Thumb / Q000502:physiology